There are five types of secondary legislation:
- Regulations - addressed to all Member States. To be applied in full and directly applicable
- Directives - addressed to all Member States. Set an objective, but the national authority can decide how to achieve the objective within their own legal framework
- Decisions - may be addressed to all Member States, or one Member State, or a company, or a group of individuals or one individual. Binding on the addressee and directly applicable
- Recommendations and Opinions - are 'soft law' instruments and have no binding force.
You can find out more about these on the Europa website.
